The Missing Persons Series
by M. E. Rabb, Published by Speak, Purchase
Summary in a sentence: Teen orphans Samantha and Sophie Shattenberg abscond with their late fathers funds and take up residence in Indiana, where their role as prime suspects in a disappearance turn them into amateur sleuths.
Why you should read it: How's that for a convoluted premise to a new series of sleuthing stories for young girls? What Nancy Drew was to a generation, Sam and Sophie (aka Fiona Scott) have all the potential to be for a Jewish audience. The titles include The Rose Queen (the first), Chocolate Lover and The Unsuspecting Gourmet.
Why you might be turned off: It is distinctly possible you're not a Jewish girl in grades seven to ten.

Yiddish with Dick and Jane
by Ellis Weiner and Barbara Davilman, Published by Little Brown, 112 pages, Purchase
Summary in a sentence: This rather amusing parody on the old "Dick and Jane" books for kids has the duo all grown up and teaching us Yiddish in their always endearing way.
Why you should read it: What more can you say about a book that has Dick and Jane's sister Sally teaching "Transgressive Feminist Ceramics" while a golf outing involves the passage, "Schmooze, Dick. Schmooze." That's not even mentioning Jane's husband's best friend's wife sleeping around because her husband (Jane's husband's best friend) is gay. See you already want to buy it.
Why you might be turned off: As inconceivable as it may be, you could be without a sense of humor and lack the need for uselessly entertaining books to put on your coffee table.

Expecting Miracles: Finding meaning and spirituality in pregnancy through Judaism

by Chana Weisberg, Published by Urim Publications, 350 pages, Purchase
Summary in a sentence: Weisberg, known as the Jewish Pregnancy Lady to her hundreds of thousands of visitors to her Web site (www.jewishpregnancy.org), offers wisdom and insights from conversations with Jewish women for transforming pregnancy into an opportunity for personal and spiritual growth.
Why you should read it: It'll help give extra meaning to the already emotional nine months of morning sickness.
Why you might be turned off: If (a) you're a guy or (b) if you've got your fill of emotional estrogen-induced upswings.

Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood
by Jennifer Traig, Published by Little Brown, 256 pagesPurchase
Summary in a sentence: In a more funny than touching memoir, Traig describes her obsessive compulsive disorder that plagued her from age 12 to her freshman year at Brandeis.
Why you should read it: Traig is a real-life Seinfeld character, with a "hyper-religious form" of OCD. When she dresses too modest, her mother actually recommends she dress more like a promiscuous teen on a talk show entitled, My Teen Dresses Too Sexy. Look for a full-blown review in the upcoming issue, but this is book is so good we wanted to let you know so you could go ahead and pre-order it.
Why you might be turned off: Truthfully, this book ends up lampooning the finer points of Jewish ritual more than sanctifying them, and it's only a cursory exploration of serious mental illness. So if you want more substantive, serious fare, look elsewhere.

Not Much Just Chillin'
by Linda Perlstein, Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 272 pages, Purchase
Summary in a sentence: Those indecipherable middle school kids finally get deciphered, more or less.
Why you should read it: If you're a parent or an educator, then you're probably ever so frightful of the terrible tweens when otherwise healthy and ordinary children become nightmarish beings closed off to all but their inner cloister of friends. This book by Jewish author Perlstein is helpful in exploring the realities of tween-hood, and it doesn't muddy the waters by focusing on specific issues like bullying or mental disorders.
Why you might be turned off: Then again, you might consider being a tween some form of mental disorder and want nothing at all to do with such a subject. Truthfully, most of us would rather just forget we ever had to live through middle school, so unless you have some reason to care about that period in the future, this book isn't your next purchase.

The Quotable Jewish Woman: Wisdom, inspiration, and humor from the mind and heart
Edited and compiled by Elaine Bernstein Partnow, Published by Jewish Lights, 454 pages, Purchase
Summary in a sentence: More than 300 Jewish woman from a variety of backgrounds (Golda Meir, Bette Midler, Dr. Ruth, etc.) offer up thousands of quotable quotes from topics ranging from beauty to the bible.
Why you should read it: If you're preparing a speech for to give in front of a local Hadassah group, this book will provide plenty of help.
Why you might be turned off: If you already have a book quotes, this one just seems a little too niche for our tastes.

When She Sleeps
by Leora Krygier, Published by Toby Press, 212 pages, Purchase
Summary in a sentence: Mai and Lucy are half-sisters who connect in a world of dreams, one an Amerasian child of a Vietnamese woman and an U.S. Army surgeon, the other a west coast daughter of the surgeon's American wife.
Why you should read it: Krygier has been compared to Faulkner, and the moving prose of this title shows why. It's a tragic tale, and it's a serious subject, but Krygier gives it a gossamer quality that makes us want to live in her character's dreams, only to rivet us with a desperate end. Few authors can pull of that trick and make you recommend the book at the end. Pre-order this for Chanukah.
Why you might be turned off: Sadly, there are people who don't like to read serious books, and conservatives who don't like to think about the messier side of our role in Vietnam should probably look towards the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth book instead.

The Matzo Ball Heiress: A novel
by Laurie Gwen Shapiro, Published by Red Dress Ink, 312 pages, Purchase
Summary in a sentence: A smart and funny novel about the Food Channel asking the non-kosher Heather Greenblotz, a member of the most famous Jewish food family in the world, to air her seder as a live special.
Why you should read it: It's a refreshing look at the crossroads of faith, family, and fame that'll keep you laughing out loud.
Why you might be turned off: If you were one of those guys who couldn't stand Sex and the City, then this similar style of female storytelling may not live up to your ESPN-filled expectations.